Call for law to protect banks and cashpoints

A SOUTH Yorkshire MP has challenged the Chancellor of the Exchequer to protect cash machines and banks from closure.

John Healey, MP for Wentworth and Dearne, and the GMB Union are pressuring the Government to introduce legislation to protect access to cash machines and bank branches.

According to GMB research, between the end of 2017 and June 2020, the number of free-to-use cashpoints in Wentworth and Dearne has declined by a third, with all cashpoints in the constituency declining by a quarter. There was one, new, feecharging cashpoint created in the period.

GMB Union is campaigning for legislation to secure the legal right to pay for goods and services in cash, free access to cash and the availability of cash back from retailers.

Mr Healey said: “There’s a real risk that the UK is sleepwalking into a cashless society with the Covid-19 crisis rushing it along.

“Areas like ours have already seen every single bank branch close its doors – with no resistance from the Government. Now the Chancellor is letting cash points disappear too, making it harder and harder for those who rely on cash to be able to get it.

“I am joining GMB’s call on the Government to take action to protect the industry and all those who will be hit hard by the removal by stealth of access to cash.”

It comes after cash machine network Link said earlier this year Barclays, NatWest, PayPoint and Sainsbury’s Bank are supporting the commitment.

These providers operate nearly 16,000 ATMs, equating to 30 per cent of Link’s total ATMs, and will step in so no community loses free access to cash.

The initiative provides a guarantee that communities facing losing access to cash will have its free ATM replaced by a member of Link. The providers have pledged to respond to any requests to replace lost ATMs.